OAKLAND / Castlemont students boycott classes

Hundreds of students boycotted classes at an East Oakland high school Monday in support of a group protesting the state takeover of the city's public schools a year ago.

School district officials said the absence of about 800 Castlemont High students cost the financially troubled district about $20,000 in state funds.

A boycott organizer said the event was meant to highlight the powers of state-appointed administrator Randy Ward, who took over the district as part of the state's $100 million bailout. The takeover also stripped the seven- member school board of power.

"We're trying to put control of the schools back into the community," said Bakari Olatunji, president of the Uhuru movement in Oakland.

Olatunji said two-dozen students who boycotted school showed up at his group's community center, and some of them took a CPR class.

But Alice Spearman, elected to the school board in March to represent an area that includes Castlemont High, said Monday's action didn't accomplish a thing.

"They duped some children into taking a day off from school," she said. "Most of them just went home."